Michelle L
New member
It's your right to disagree. It's also mine.
LFS in Normal??
- Thread starter torchstang05
- Start date
torchstang05
New member
So are there any stores around the Normal area anymore???
Michelle L
New member
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8138606#post8138606 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by hcs3
thanks for clearing that up
What you're not seeing is that you & I are saying essentially the same thing, but in different ways.
Nevermind, it's not worth trying to clear up.
Sloeber
Active member
http://www.cimaonline.us/local_stores.htm
if any additional ones exist, please pass on the info so i can update the page.
HTH
AslanTheKing
New member
Henry
I held exactly the same attitude until 8 years ago, I moved to Mackinaw, population 1600 when we arrived, in 1997. The local businesses are not able to compete with online vendors or even Wal-Mart, which is 12 miles away. It is, however, incredibly nice to have a place to get groceries that is not 12 miles away. Therefore, while I don't do all my business with our local IGA, I do frequent them and buy as often as I am able. The local video store is not as well-stocked or cheap as Hollywood video, which is 13 miles away. Nonetheless, from time to time, I do rent videos from them. January in a small town with frosty roads can be awfully problematic with no local entertainment sources.
For me, I will pay for the convenience of having a local option. Likewise, when I know that our local businesses are having difficult times, I do consider it a duty to help them in what modest ways I can. If convenience isn't enough of a reason, there is a sense of community. Perhaps I'm just a bit out of my time for this modern era, but I do think that we create something powerful when we have a gathering place where people share ideas, knowledge, and opinions. A local fish store may in fact be just such a place. Combine these factors with the fact that a healthy store with the selection that TMR had raises the bar for everyone else. Following the underlying logic of your post, supporting a place like TMR and keeping their ambition in the market, creates an environment of greater competition and selection. To compete, other stores like Fishin' Times, Charlie's, etc, were having to consider their inventories in light of that competition. That's good for all of us as consumers.
I do appreciate the reparte, Henry, even the sardonism! TMR was not a perfect place. More than enough has been posited about it's demise. Ultimately, only those who ran the place know what happened and why it failed for certain. I stand by my post that says we ought to do more to support another effort as ambitious as TMR, when it comes along.
Peace
Kevin
I held exactly the same attitude until 8 years ago, I moved to Mackinaw, population 1600 when we arrived, in 1997. The local businesses are not able to compete with online vendors or even Wal-Mart, which is 12 miles away. It is, however, incredibly nice to have a place to get groceries that is not 12 miles away. Therefore, while I don't do all my business with our local IGA, I do frequent them and buy as often as I am able. The local video store is not as well-stocked or cheap as Hollywood video, which is 13 miles away. Nonetheless, from time to time, I do rent videos from them. January in a small town with frosty roads can be awfully problematic with no local entertainment sources.
For me, I will pay for the convenience of having a local option. Likewise, when I know that our local businesses are having difficult times, I do consider it a duty to help them in what modest ways I can. If convenience isn't enough of a reason, there is a sense of community. Perhaps I'm just a bit out of my time for this modern era, but I do think that we create something powerful when we have a gathering place where people share ideas, knowledge, and opinions. A local fish store may in fact be just such a place. Combine these factors with the fact that a healthy store with the selection that TMR had raises the bar for everyone else. Following the underlying logic of your post, supporting a place like TMR and keeping their ambition in the market, creates an environment of greater competition and selection. To compete, other stores like Fishin' Times, Charlie's, etc, were having to consider their inventories in light of that competition. That's good for all of us as consumers.
I do appreciate the reparte, Henry, even the sardonism! TMR was not a perfect place. More than enough has been posited about it's demise. Ultimately, only those who ran the place know what happened and why it failed for certain. I stand by my post that says we ought to do more to support another effort as ambitious as TMR, when it comes along.
Peace
Kevin
AslanTheKing
New member
Worldwide Pets in Creve Couer is now defunct, if I am not mistaken. Greg at Fishin' Times purchased at least some of their fixtures. I drive that way frequently and they haven't appeared to be open in a few weeks.
Peace
Kevin
Peace
Kevin
Sloeber
Active member
kev,
thanks for the well thought out reply.
i think you hit the nail on the head. small stores cannot compete with wal mart. the problem is, IMHO, that small stores do not give consumers what they want. if they did, well, we wouldnt have walmarts everywhere would we?
i have a wal mart 4 blocks from my house. i buy all my groceries there, minus of course what is not available. for those items, i go to the specialty shops. yes, i even order food online. you simply cannot find a good jamaican jerk in the states
as for small towns and walmart - that is the business world. walmart would not be there if the market didnt exist, but yet it was a market that the small shops could have sealed and kept walmart out. but they didnt. the opportunity existed and walmart capitalized. that is a win-win for consumers IMHO.
did TMR really raise the bar? TMR is closed, the others are still open. perhaps TMR just gave confidence to the ongoing stores that what they are doing is the right way to do it...
P.S. it is spelled sardonicism
thanks for the well thought out reply.
i think you hit the nail on the head. small stores cannot compete with wal mart. the problem is, IMHO, that small stores do not give consumers what they want. if they did, well, we wouldnt have walmarts everywhere would we?
i have a wal mart 4 blocks from my house. i buy all my groceries there, minus of course what is not available. for those items, i go to the specialty shops. yes, i even order food online. you simply cannot find a good jamaican jerk in the states
as for small towns and walmart - that is the business world. walmart would not be there if the market didnt exist, but yet it was a market that the small shops could have sealed and kept walmart out. but they didnt. the opportunity existed and walmart capitalized. that is a win-win for consumers IMHO.
did TMR really raise the bar? TMR is closed, the others are still open. perhaps TMR just gave confidence to the ongoing stores that what they are doing is the right way to do it...
P.S. it is spelled sardonicism
AslanTheKing
New member
I don't think whether or not they are still open is an accurate measure of whether or not they raised the bar. In speaking candidly with at least one other LFS owner, it was indicated that the competition had to be taken into consideration while TMR was around. I am certain for others, they took it as you suggested, or they just didn't care. In my estimation, very few of the LFS' that I have visited REALLY care about the reef market the way we do here. Many are a small part of a larger pet store. Let's face it, more folks have dogs and cats than have a reef. We're a small part of their market. TMR, Fishin' Times, and certainly others, see/saw us as their targeted market.
Likewise, I don't think that some of the smaller stores couldn't deliver what customers wanted. It's simply impossible to compete with a Wal-Mart, even 20 years ago, who are able to sell for less than the "mom and pop" store could purchase the goods wholesale.
I long for a store that has folks who care for the animals as much as we do and who are competent to talk the language. One pet store owner in Bloomington became quite irate with me when I asked difficult questions about reef aquaria. He basically told me he's there to sell solutions to people and he knows what his manufacturers tell him. The only skimmer in the place was, of course, a SeaClone. That's the kind of place I won't support and epitomizes what you are talking about. No ambition. No desire to help the customer with anything other than a way to get money out of their pocket.
Anyhow, I learned at least one thing today. I didn't know it was spelled that way! ;-P
Peace
Kevin
Likewise, I don't think that some of the smaller stores couldn't deliver what customers wanted. It's simply impossible to compete with a Wal-Mart, even 20 years ago, who are able to sell for less than the "mom and pop" store could purchase the goods wholesale.
I long for a store that has folks who care for the animals as much as we do and who are competent to talk the language. One pet store owner in Bloomington became quite irate with me when I asked difficult questions about reef aquaria. He basically told me he's there to sell solutions to people and he knows what his manufacturers tell him. The only skimmer in the place was, of course, a SeaClone. That's the kind of place I won't support and epitomizes what you are talking about. No ambition. No desire to help the customer with anything other than a way to get money out of their pocket.
Anyhow, I learned at least one thing today. I didn't know it was spelled that way! ;-P
Peace
Kevin
Benny Z
In Memoriam
i'll always buy wherever i can get the best price and also the best warranty on livegoods, unless the price is just too good to pass up otherwise (ie, our group buy). i could give a hoot about whatever level of knowledge you have, so long as you know enough about what you're selling to keep it healthy in your system. if i need to know something, i'll research it myself. i've heard so many local sales guys give so much bad advice to make a quick sale that i prefer it this way anyway.
i know this means i am a huge pita for the local guys. i do feel bad for guy, ray, tom, and the rest of them. if they re-open someday on a smaller scale and can continue to offer price matching then i will definately be buying from them again.
i'll still buy online.
i know this means i am a huge pita for the local guys. i do feel bad for guy, ray, tom, and the rest of them. if they re-open someday on a smaller scale and can continue to offer price matching then i will definately be buying from them again.
i'll still buy online.
AslanTheKing
New member
Oh, and Henry, you can get good jerk in Illinois. You just have to make it! How hot do you like it? My 4 habanero batch plastered all over pork loin won a backyard bbq contest last Labor Day.
Drop me a PM and I'll hook you up with the recipe.
Peace
Kevin
Drop me a PM and I'll hook you up with the recipe.
Peace
Kevin
